Diamond rain can take place across the universe

Diamond rain, which occurs in giant ice planets like Uranus and Neptune, may be more common than scientists thought.

Illustration of diamond rain inside a giant ice planet. Photo: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists think that "diamond rain", a strange deposition phenomenon, may be more common than previously thought, CGTN reported on September 3. They came to this conclusion after using ordinary plastic to recreate the diamond rain, which is believed to take place deep within Uranus and Neptune.

Previously, scientists had hypothesized that extreme heat and pressure turned hydrogen and carbon into solid diamonds thousands of kilometers below the surface of Uranus and Neptune. In a new study published in the journal Science Advances , the team added oxygen to the mix and found that diamond rain may be more common than many experts thought.

Ice giants like Neptune and Uranus are thought to be the most common form of planets outside the solar system, meaning that diamond rain can occur across the universe.

This diamond rain is different from the rain on Earth, according to physicist Dominik Kraus at the research laboratory HZDR (Germany), a member of the research team. Hypothetically, under the surface of the ice giants is a "hot, dense liquid" where diamonds form and slowly sink into the rocky core - as large as Earth - at a depth of more than 10,000 km. under.

That sinking diamond can form huge layers, spanning hundreds of kilometers or more, Kraus said. These diamonds are not shiny and not cut like the ones in rings, but they form through similar processes on Earth.

To replicate this process, the team used a mixture of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in an already existing material, PET plastic - used for bottles and food packaging. The team then shone a powerful optical laser onto the plastic at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, USA.

Very short, intense X-rays allowed them to track the formation of nanodiamonds - diamonds so small they can't be seen with the naked eye. "The large amount of oxygen that exists on those planets helps to draw the hydrogen atoms away from the carbon. Therefore, diamonds form more easily," explains Kraus.

The experiment could lead to a new way to produce nanodiamonds. They have many and growing applications, including drug delivery, medical censorship, non-invasive surgery, and quantum electronics.

"The current way to make nanodiamonds is to use explosives with carbon or diamond. Lasers could offer a cleaner and more controllable method of producing nanodiamonds," said scientist Benjamin Ofori-Okai at SLAC. , study co-author, comments.

Research on diamond rain is hypothetical because humans currently know very little about Uranus and Neptune, the most distant planets in the solar system. However, a team of NASA experts has planned a mission to explore these planets, likely to launch in the next decade. Kraus said he very much expects more data from the scientific community, even if it takes a decade or two.

Thu Thao (According to CGTN )

Discovered 'diamond factory' deep in the Earth 22
The prospect of diamond rain on Earth 63